In looking to the future at Worlds, I am going to start by looking into the past.

My Additional Damage squad did well in Wave 2. That squad was:

Howlrunner with Squad Leader
Bounty Hunter with Assault Missiles and Seismic Charges X2.

Essentially the BH's would move and focus, then Howl could give one of them a TL to fire off the Assault Missile. The additional splash damage would occur, then i could do it again next round if I staggered my BH's right. Then I could drop seismic charges for more damage beyond just straight attacking and defending. In one game vs Troy, I managed to put 4 hits into Wedge without ever attacking him, which was fantastic. The concept of dealing damage beyond just straight attacking and defending is still valid today.

Fast forward to Worlds 2013. I brough Kath and a BH both with a Proton Bomb, in order to get past a B-wing's shields. I managed to give Paul his only loss at a Worlds tournament with that squad, which was an intense game. Then in round 4, even though I lost that one, also an extremely close game, I managed to kill Wedge without ever attacking him, hitting him with a Direct hit with 1 Proton Bomb and then with the other.

I have always loved dropping bombs on people, and when Emon Azzameen was released, my first tournament I ran him I premiered my Slingshot maneuver with him, successfully hitting my opponents in all 5 games with it.

And now, with Wave 7 coming out, we have some more tricks that can be used. Here is a look at what we have available so far:

Rebels:
Y-wing with Bomb Loadout
K-wing

Imperials:
TIE Bomber
Firespray-31
VT-49 Decimator
TIE Punisher

Scum:
Firespray-31
Y-wing with Bomb Loadout
Aggressor

The bombs that we have available are:
Seismic Charges
Proximity Mines
Proton Bombs
Cluster Mines
Ion Bombs
Conner Net

Other cards available:

Bomb Loadout
Andrasta Title
Bombardier crew

Genius

Extra Munitions

Now, the reason that I am writing this Diary is that for Worlds 2015, I am going to try and be successful with bombs again. So I've got a few months to fine tune the squad lists and maneuvers to make them effective against today's meta.

My first test was today. I played 4 games in a 35-point furball tournament. I brought:

Kavil with Lone wolf, Unhinged Astromech, Ion Cannon Turret, Bomb Loadout, and Prox mine.

I needed an easy way to take Fel off of the board, so I figured I could bring a prox mine and try to make him hit it.

First game I deployed it, trying to get Jake Ferrel to hit it, but he turned instead, so that one didn't do any damage. But it still deterred where he was going to go, and he died a few turns later.
Second game I ioned Echo (who had 2 hull left at the time), then moved 3 fwd past her and dropped the prox mine, just missing her by millimeters. If that had gone off, I could have killed Echo right there. As it was, it was still a deterrent to the remaining ships on the board. But man i wish I could have gotten that kill there.
Third game I did mange to drop it onto Ten Numb, doing a hit and crit to shields.
Fourth game I forgot to drop it. I even had it set up to drop right in front of Ten again, but I focused instead and forgot to drop it. It would have hit Ten, as he flew right over where it would have been.

So in 4 games, I only managed to get it to detonate once with kavil, even with ion.

I am going to continue practicing with bombs, likely playing Emon for a while trying to find a good loadout for him. The trouble is Scum doesn't have a cheap low PS EPT carrier, like a Black Squadron Pilot or a Green for Wingman, otherwise I would try Experimental interface with him. But I may try and come up with something until Wave 7 hits the shelves. Then I will try my hand at Deathrain and see what kinds of shenanigans I can pull off.

And being the nerd that I am, I am going to keep track of my games and my success rates in a google spreadsheet here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19YkpnKpPHffentP-Ma-849pLIzYhx3-IQXhasOWWvmU/edit#gid=0

And here's a link, more for my own reference, to Sable's thread about proximity Mines.

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/125579-proximity-mines-explored/?hl=%2Bsablegryphon+%2Bbombs#entry1310121

Thanks for the mini article (of sorts). I have never used ordnance, and find your implicit tips and strategy (especially squad building and motivation) quite interesting. Keep it coming, hothie!

By the way, I just asked for permission to view the spreadsheet.

By the way, I just asked for permission to view the spreadsheet.

Sorry about that. I think I turned on link sharing, so you should be able to see it now, I think. If not, let me know, and I can try again to make it public.

By the way, I just asked for permission to view the spreadsheet.

Sorry about that. I think I turned on link sharing, so you should be able to see it now, I think. If not, let me know, and I can try again to make it public.

Thanks, all fine and dandy :-)

It wasn't always effective, but IG88-d with adrenaline rush, Advanced sensors, proximity mine is fun and gives options to dropping the mine each turn

I know he's not popular, but Kaa'to is the cheapest EPT carrier Scum have, and he's only 1 point more than a BSP. If you gave RecSpec to Emon you might even be able to make some opportunistic use of his Pilot Skill as well.

2 games tonight with this squad:

Emon with Prox Mine X2, Proton Bomb, RecSpec, Experimental Interface, Andrasta
Kaato with Wingman, Ion Pulse Missle, Hot Shot Blaster
Thug with BTL A4 title, Ion cannon, Unhinged Astromech

First game was against Kyle running his Triple Interceptor list of Fel, jax and Turr. I managed to hit Jax for 2 during the first combat, then I finished him off with a Prox mine on the next turn. Then the next round i dropped the proton bomb right where both Fel and Turr landed, so he had to use all of his actions to get out of Range 1 of it. Fel chased Emon for a turn, so I threw my last prox mine in his way, which made him veer off and go after the Y and Z. A few turns later, Kaato managed to block Fel, with the thug having a range 1 tl and focus on him. Primary hit for 2, and the ion shot finished him off. Then it was Turr vs my squad. I managed to get turr into a corner and finished him off for the 100-0 win.

I wasn't a fan of Experimental interface this game. I honestly would much rather have had Engine to get him back into the fight sooner. That frees me from having to bring a wingman, too, although I was enjoying having Wingman and the Unhinged Astro for the Ywing. It meant I could K-turn or 4 fwd whenever I wanted and Kaato was there to take away the stress.

Then the second game I faced a Jax, Kir kanos, OGP build. He ran Jax onto a debris cloud. I put 2 hits on him, one of which was an ion, I kept him there with a block from Kaato and finished him off with Emon primary range 1. Next round I dropped the proton bomb onto Kir kanos(as well as my Thug), who moved first, and my attack from Emon finished him off. The Thug put the 2nd ion token onto the Shuttle, so we called it there with the shuttle pointed away from my squad and double ioned. I played that game more aggressively, and I think it paid off, getting into the correct ranges when I needed to and getting good shots. 100-0 win

So, I think i drop EI for Engine and go back to the drawing board with the rest of the squad. We'll see what i can come up with next time...

I feel that bombs are difficult to use, but very underrated when used properly, so its great to see someone perfecting the art.

One thing to consider in scum lists is Genius - if he k-turns he can also 'fling' bombs a lot further than opponents expect, albeit at the cost of damage to his own ship!

I feel that bombs are difficult to use, but very underrated when used properly, so its great to see someone perfecting the art.

One thing to consider in scum lists is Genius - if he k-turns he can also 'fling' bombs a lot further than opponents expect, albeit at the cost of damage to his own ship!

My Thug with Genius and a proton bomb I call "Achmed." I'm looking forward to running him with extra munitions so I can drop 2 proton bombs.

I kill you!

I played a vassal game earlier in the week vs Rakaydos. I ran:

Deathrain with Proton Bomb, Ion pulse missile, AdvS, ExM
Brath with HLC and VI
Backstabber

He was running a shuttle, with 2 Bombers with AHS and Jonus.

I have this game logged, so I will try and get some game pics up tonight. I started slowly, with my 3 ships spread out, to see who he was going to go after, he went for Brath, which left BS and DR to flank. I did make some mistakes that game. I dropped a proton bomb, then didn't boost to get out of the blast zone, and took a Structural Damage for it.

After Deathrain's ordnance was spent, he was kind of meh, so I need to build him better to try and get more punch out of him. I did manage to hit 3 of his ships with my 2 proton bombs. Lost that game, killing a bomber and he ran his shuttle off of the board.

Then last night, I played against Major Juggler with his Regional winning Brobots list. I ran:

Emon with Conner net, Ion Bomb, Andrasta, RecSpec, Engine
Thug with Genius, Proton Bomb, Bomb Loadout, Extra Munitions, and Autoblaster turret (Achmed)
Thug with Ion Turret, BTLA4, and Unhinged Astromech (Hog)

This was kind of a weird game. We both had average attack dice, and I was getting the greens just enough for him to do 1 damage per shot to my Ywings. There was one critical turn where I got to place the conner net on top of IG88C, so he went 1 fwd, took a damage, and didn't get an action. That turn I took him down to 1 hull from full. He did manage to limp away. He finally killed Achmed, who had only dropped 1 bomb (only hitting himself), but I was able to finish off C, then I got some shots through on B, enough that my Hog was able to put the final hits on him to end it with me only losing Achmed.

I really like Engine over Experimental Interface, as Engine was huge that game, allowing me to get into Range 1 of the IG's, forcing him to boost to arc dodge.

Off to the LGS for more table time!

Edit: 2 games on the table. first vs Nick running Kath and 3 Feedback Z's. Emon went down hard with maybe 1 evade rolled total. The prox mine hit Kath for 3, though. The seismic missed, her but hit my own Thug. makes me want to bring Flight Instructor back on Emon. only killed 1 Z.

Second game against Kyle running Boba/Kath. Again the prox mines hit for 5 hits in 6 dice. The seismic hit 2 of my own without blocking Boba, though. Lost that game, too. Key turn with stressed kath avoiding her second ion token. i ended up taking out Kath, but Boba finished off Emon in the end.

So, I'm thinking about either Intel Agent or Flight Instructor as crew on Emon. Will have to try out some more variations later.

Love it Hothie! I was hoping you'd have another log as you prepare for Worlds!

I know I faced a K wing with AdvSlam and Conors net that was brutal! I had a K wing starting behind me and able to fly passed me to drop that net!